Audi A4 Tdi starting problem

Hay_man

Hi

I have a intermittend problem with my A4, sometimes when I turn on the car the glow plugs will not show, however if I wait a minute or two with the ignition left on the glow plugs will suddenly show and the car will start,

The car is driving perfectly apart from this very annoying problem,

I took a video of it yesterday when it happened it shows the exact problem if you watch it all,

Anyone have any idea what is wrong with the car??

Cheers

tossy

I notice the engine management light comes on at the same time as the glowplug light - does this go off when you start it? If not a scan might reveal the problem.

Ronnie Beck

Get a vcds/vagcom scan rather than a generic. Hopefully it's a relay 109 issue or something simple. Fingers crossed the ECU is sound.

Hay_man

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

Get a vcds/vagcom scan rather than a generic. Hopefully it's a relay 109 issue or something simple. Fingers crossed the ECU is sound.

Hi
I just left the car into the mechanic this morning to check it out.....

He reckons it might be the ECU

How much would I be looking at to get it replaced if it is gone ?

Ronnie Beck

Hay_man wrote: »

Hi
I just left the car into the mechanic this morning to check it out.....

He reckons it might be the ECU

How much would I be looking at to get it replaced if it is gone ?

Small fortune from a main dealer. I would start trying to source one from a scrapper. Was yours chipped?

Hay_man

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

Small fortune from a main dealer. I would start trying to source one from a scrapper. Was yours chipped?

Hi Ronnie

The mechanic looked over it on saturday, it's not the ECU after.

He reckons the clocks are gone on the car and that it will have to be taken to the main dealer to get them coded in aswell:(

When he scaned the car he found it also needs a new ABS module to:(

No the car was not chipped and is completly standard

I'm suppose it will take a good €1500 to get it fixed ?

galwaydude18

When he said clocks to you did he mean the speedo and that? If so what have they got to do with starting the car?!

Hay_man

galwaydude18 wrote: »

When he said clocks to you did he mean the speedo and that? If so what have they got to do with starting the car?!

Yep the speedo

Think it's something to do with the wiring at the back of them

I rang the Audi dealership today about the price for a new speedo/clocks but they said they would have to order it in specially,

Maybe I be might aswell take the car to the Audi main dealers as they should know these cars inside out??? To properly diagnose the car just to be sure,

The mechanic I brought it to was an independant so probably didn't know much(or anything maybe?) about Audis??

galwaydude18

People better than me will know better but I can see no reason in the world why a speedo that's not working would prevent a car from starting

Hay_man

galwaydude18 wrote: »

People better than me will know better but I can see no reason in the world why a speedo that's not working would prevent a car from starting

Thats what I was kind of thinking too and I don't want to be out a fortune and the car still have the problem :mad:

mickdw

Id get a mechanic who knows the cars well.

He says you need a new abs module. Are you having abs problems?
He says clocks are gone and will need coding at dealer too. I think it is possible to have you dash clocks overhauled now so that there is no coding required.

When I say someone who knows the cars well, I would not recommend a main dealer. They are often clueless enough and have no problems with taken a couple of thousand off you for f all.

Hay_man

mickdw wrote: »

Id get a mechanic who knows the cars well.

He says you need a new abs module. Are you having abs problems?
He says clocks are gone and will need coding at dealer too. I think it is possible to have you dash clocks overhauled now so that there is no coding required.

When I say someone who knows the cars well, I would not recommend a main dealer. They are often clueless enough and have no problems with taken a couple of thousand off you for f all.

No the car is braking fine but I remember a few days ago when I started up the car, the trip computer beeped and said brakes flashed for a second or two, but no light came on the dash.

Yikes I'm scared now

But at the end of the day is there really much of a difference labour is charged on between private and main dealer mechanic's?

Just don't know to do with this car now

galwaydude18

Hay_man wrote: »

But at the end of the day is there really much of a difference labour is charged on between private and main dealer mechanic's?

Ya the main difference wil be €40 or €50 an hour labour difference!

A good Indy will be your best bet to get sorted out.

Ronnie Beck

galwaydude18 wrote: »

People better than me will know better but I can see no reason in the world why a speedo that's not working would prevent a car from starting

The clocks control unit and the immobiliser are linked.

Shouldn't be that much to fix. Depends if they need to replace the instrument cluster. Shouldn't take long if it just needs recoding. Try find a good independant that know the TDI's. Some lads serve their time on these cars in main dealers and then go out on their own. Probably work out half the price.

galwaydude18

Well ya learn something new every day! I never heard if them being connected to the imobaliser before. As I said I'm no expert.

anonyl

isnt the immobiliser in the clocks in these?